Reply #8: Although you can certainly use a DesignJet for photography printing,

[kentauros]

unless you are getting the model designed towards Graphic Artists, you might not like the quality from the Architect/Engineering variety. I work as a Mapping Professional for a small pipeline-design firm and know firsthand that while these printers are great at what we need them for, they are not so great at printing out large-format photographs. I know because I've tried ;)

We do use aerial photos under some portions of the drawings and while they are spectacular in resolution, the image quality as an artistic photograph is not comparable to those graphics printers.

Here's the HP site for all of their medium to large-format printers: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/18972-18972-3328061.html

Notice that they do have one that will print on a 24" roll, so you can get coated photopaper at a fairly reasonable price. Remember, too, that the ink cartridges are far larger and costs on replacing them (or refilling) will also be higher.

Next is memory. I have noticed on some that they just don't default to a large enough memory buffer in these plotters. We had to even get an internal hard-drive installed in our DesignJet 1050C because it just couldn't handle multiple alignment sheets in the queue without crashing (an alignment sheet generally has at best about 20% of its surface as image.) You'll have to research that if you plan on making large and long prints.

Although you can certainly get an older model from CraigsList, or other classifieds, you won't likely be getting the service contract in that price. I have no idea if an internal hard-drive installation can be done by you or if you have to call a service rep, but I doubt if they are cheap ;)

I have a Canon Pixma Pro large-format printer and I'm still trying to figure out the color tables. So, I haven't printed on the 13"x19" paper I have sitting behind my desk ;) If you don't get the color right, you'll be burning up a lot of paper getting it all calibrated. It's also best to do that on the type of paper you want for the final print, versus testing it with standard bond uncoated paper.

Just research this as thoroughly as you can first. It may be more cost-effective to just take your image to a professional printer and get a print run or one large-format print than to try and do it yourself. These large-format printers can bankrupt you fast! :o

Here's some other sources of printers to look through:
http://www.stanfordmarsh.co.uk/display_graphics_printers.html
http://www.lfp-newsletter.com
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/cat/Printers/LargeFormatPrinters/category.asp
http://www.printhead.net/dynamicweb/main.asp?m=17&c=17&a=17
http://www.wide-format-printers.org

Hope that helps some. Perhaps form a group in your area that could help offset costs by sharing it. Or set up a small business to print for people with large-format photographic-printing needs :)